And then there were Ten: Nova Scotia files lawsuit against tobacco companies

Last Friday Philip Morris International filed the annual report required by the New York securities authorities.  Nestled on page 21 of their 10K filing was a bit of news relevant to Canada:

"In the tenth health care cost recovery case filed in Canada, Her Majesty the Queen in Right of the Province of Nova Scotia v. Rothmans, Benson & Hedges Inc., et al., Supreme Court of Nova Scotia, Canada, filed January 2, 2015, we, our subsidiaries, our indemnitees (PM USA and Altria), and other members of the industry are defendants. The claim was filed by the government of the province of Nova Scotia based on legislation enacted in the province that is similar to the laws enacted in several other Canadian provinces. The legislation authorizes the government to file a direct action against cigarette manufacturers to recover the health care costs it has incurred, and will incur, as a result of a “tobacco related wrong.” In January 2015, we, our subsidiaries, and our indemnitees were served with the Statement of Claim. Preliminary motions and defenses will be filed in 2015, and discovery is scheduled to begin in 2017."

There seems to have been little fanfare around this event, although Nova Scotia promised when it proclaimed its legislation that it would file the suit by the end of the year. 

Seventeen years after the first provincial government filed suit, the set is now complete. (See Table below)

Nova Scotia's Statement of Claim can be found here.

Current Canadian government lawsuits

Jurisdiction	Enabling Legislation	Law passed	Suit filed
British Columbia	Tobacco Damages and Health Care Costs Recovery Act	1997, 1998, 2000	1998, 2001
New Brunswick	Tobacco Damages and Health Care Costs Recovery Act	2006	2008
Ontario	Tobacco Damages and Health Care Costs Recovery Act	2009	2009
Newfoundland	Act to Provide for the Recovery of Tobacco Related Health Care Costs	2001	2011
Alberta	Right of Recovery Act	2009	2012
Manitoba	Tobacco Damages and Health Care Costs Recovery Act	2006	2012
Prince Edward Island	Tobacco Damages and Health Care Costs Recovery Act	2009	2012
Quebec	Tobacco-related Damages and Health Care Costs Recovery Act	2009	2012
Saskatchewan	Tobacco Damages and Health Care Costs Recovery Act	2007	2012
Nova Scotia	Tobacco Damages and Health Care Costs Recovery Act	2005	2015

The same corporate filing by Philip Morris International shows that a number of other large suits have fallen away, and that of the class action, health care recovery or public civil action suits now underway, a disproportionate number are in Canada. A brief description of those cases can be found here.

While we wait ...

Justice Riordan presiding over the Blais-Létourneau trials.
As captured by citizen sketcher Marc Holmes**

Welcome to this now mostly dormant blog about tobacco litigation in Canada. 

With the end of the Blais-Létourneau trial in December 2014, the action on tobacco litigation in Canada is once again out of the public eye. Justice Riordan has retired to write his ruling on the Quebec class actions. The provincial lawsuits are not yet on view. 

There may be little to report on, but there is plenty to read. 

Some 42,000 exhibits are now available on the plaintiffs' database, as are the transcripts from each of the 253 days of trial. Instructions on using the database can be found here. 

Thematic sets of exhibits are being developed, and are made available on the "Blais Letourneau Exhibits" page linked at the left.

During the closing arguments, citizen sketcher Marc Holmes visited the trial. His impression and illustrations are available on his blog.  With his kind permission, one is shown above.

Stay tuned....